CEP to facilitate a workshop on the development of the Communities and FCERM R&D framework

This week CEP are facilitating a workshop on the development of a Communities and FCERM R&D framework

CEP is facilitating a one day workshop with a range of key stakeholders to consult and engage them in the development of the Communities and FCERM R&D framework.

The workshop will aim to identify additional relevant research and research gaps to help shape the development of the framework. It will also enable participants to input to the development of the framework through sharing of their knowledge and volunteering to review project ideas as they are developed.

The workshop is organised by the Environment Agency and will take place in London on Wednesday 11th March 2020. Attendance is by invitation only.

CEP, in partnership with Flood Hazard Research Centre (FHRC) Middlesex University and HR Wallingford (HRW), have been commissioned by the Environment Agency (EA) to develop a Communities and FCERM R&D Framework. The primary aim of the project is to identify the main research gaps in the area of FCERM through a detailed review of the current science.

Information about the Communities and FCERM R&D framework project can be found here.

For more information, please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Project Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Project Coordinator).

CEP delivering EKN training - upcoming course dates

INCORPORATING NATURAL CAPITAL AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS: EXPLORING BEST PRACTICE

UPCOMING DATE FOR THIS COURSE IN 2020:

• 10:00 am - 04:30 pm, Tuesday 10th March (The Castle at Taunton, Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1NF)

This course, which is now in its forth year, will equip you to inform clients or colleagues on the merits of including the ecosystem services and natural capital concepts in environmental assessment processes. There is now strong interest in what ecosystem services, natural capital and nature-based solutions mean for Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal. 

The course is delivered by Dr Bill Sheate and Spela Kolaric of Collingwood Environmental Planning and organised by the Ecosystems Knowledge Network.

Find out more and book at: https://ecosystemsknowledge.net/events/training-environmental-assessment

CEP reviewing evidence on flood resilience for Defra

CEP is leading an evidence review of flood resilience for Defra and the Environment Agency.

CEP is leading a project to provide an evidence review of flood resilience for Defra and the Environment Agency. The project was commissioned in summer 2019 and is expected to conclude in spring 2020. CEP’s consortium partners are the Flood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University and HaskoningDHV UK Ltd.

The government’s 25 Year Environment Plan includes a goal to reduce the risk of harm to people, the environment and the economy from natural hazards including flooding and coastal erosion. “Boosting the long-term resilience of our homes, businesses and infrastructure” is one of the measures by which this will be achieved. Resilience is also central to the Environment Agency’s draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England which emphasises the need for ‘climate resilient places’.

The overall objective of the project is to review the concept of flood resilience and how it can be used in a resilience framework for managing flood and coastal erosion risks in England. 

So far the project has:

• Developed evidence from peer-reviewed and grey literature on the main approaches to flood resilience that are currently in use.

• Provided a summary of the responses to Defra’s ‘Call for Evidence on Flooding and Coastal Erosion’ to inform the Government’s policy on flood and coastal erosion resilience.

• Supported engagement of flood risk management policy-makers and practitioners in exploring how resilience concepts, frameworks and metrics could best be implemented in policy and how to address any barriers to implementation.

• Facilitated cross-Government consideration of the different concepts of resilience currently in use, how these could best be aligned and what targets and metrics could be used.  

The results of the research will be published by Defra later this year.

For more information please contact CEP’s Paula Orr (Project Director) or Spela Kolaric (Project Coordinator) for more information.

CEP to research how to measure recovery from extreme weather events

CEP HAS RECENTLY BEEN AWARDED A NEW PROJECT TO HELP CLIMATEXCHANGE UNDERSTAND HOW TO MEASURE RECOVERY FROM EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS .

ClimateXchange has commissioned Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP), in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, to undertake research to help develop an approach to monitoring recovery from extreme weather events, including flooding, storms, drought, extreme cold in winter and above normal heat in summer.  The research will look at possible targets and indicators, which should be relevant to broader resilience frameworks and strategies in Scotland.  The main aim of the research is to enable a common understanding of climate resilience and the critical components in planning for local and national recovery from extreme weather.  

This research will involve an evidence review of recovery monitoring systems used elsewhere, identification and review of potential datasets that could be used to measure recovery from extreme weather events, and consideration of how monitoring recovery from extreme weather events can link and contribute to Scotland’s National Performance Framework, the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme and the Preparing Scotland guidance for getting ready for and dealing with emergencies.

The project began in January and will come to a close at the end of March 2020.

For more information please contact CEP’s Paula Orr (Technical Director) or Dr Sian Morse-Jones (Principal Consultant).

CEP LEADING EU SENSE-MAKING WORKSHOPS ON EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

CEP TO LEAD FOUR SENSE-MAKING WORKSHOPS AS PART OF OUR ROLE AS SECRETARIAT FOR THE EU FORESIGHT SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES (FORENV)

In our role of providing the secretariat for the EU Commission’s new EU Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV), CEP will be moderating four sense-making workshops.  The workshops will be held between the 29th January and 5th February 2020 in Copenhagen (Denmark), Ispra (Italy), and in Brussels (Belgium), and will bring together approximately 40 experts from the Commission, EU Member States, research institutions and the third sector.

The workshops are being organised as part of the second annual cycle of FORENV, which is running from September 2019 – September 2020, and is focusing on the topic ‘Emerging innovations in the Green economy of the future’.  Across the workshops almost 200 ‘weak signals’ of change related to this topic will be discussed, clustered and prioritised.  Each session will be run in a participatory way to engage and draw on the knowledge of participants.  CEP have led the organisation of the workshops and will be moderating them with support from our partners Cranfield University, Milieu Ltd and representatives of the European Commission.

Drawing on the workshop outcomes, up to 10 priority emerging issues will be proposed for further consideration in the next steps of the FORENV system.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).

New EA project to develop a Communities and FCERM R&D Framework

CEP HAS BEEN COMMISSIONED TO DEVELOP A COMMUNITIES AND FCERM R&D FRAMEWORK

CEP, in partnership with Flood Hazard Research Centre (FHRC) Middlesex University and HR Wallingford (HRW), have been commissioned by the Environment Agency (EA) to develop a Communities and FCERM R&D Framework. The primary aim of the project is to identify the main research gaps in the area of FCERM through a detailed review of the current science.

The review process is being supplemented with interviews and further workshops with key stakeholders. The outputs from this project will help to set-out a roadmap for delivering and funding EA projects to fill these gaps. The project began in October and will come to a close at the end of 2020.

For more information please contact CEP’s Clare Twigger-Ross, the Project Manager, or Rolands Sadauskis, the Project Coordinator.

Flagship European State of Environment Report published by the European Environment Agency

CEP have contributed to the newly published SOER 2020 report

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published the flagship report on the State of Environment in Europe (SOER 2020).  The report emphasises the sustainability challenges Europe faces and the need for urgent systemic solutions.  As well as providing an overview of key environment and climate trends, the report also reflects on the influence of global trends on Europe’s environment and the key emerging drivers of environmental change.

CEP has provided analytical support to the EEA in their preparation of SOER 2020 through a number of contracts lead and delivered by CEP experts or managed by CEP under the EEA framework on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.  These include projects such as updating the knowledge base on global megatrends; identifying and assessing drivers of change; and analysing critical interactions between environmental SDGs from a European perspective.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White.

“Europe’s environment is at a tipping point. We have a narrow window of opportunity in the next decade to scale up measures to protect nature, lessen the impacts of climate change and radically reduce our consumption of natural resources.”

— Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director

“The State of the Environment Report is perfectly timed to give us the added impetus we need as we start a new five-year cycle in the European Commission and as we prepare to present the European Green Deal.”

— Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission

First annual cycle of the EU foresight system for emerging environmental issues completed

CEP successfully supports first annual cycle of the EU foresight system to detect emerging environmental issues (FORENV)

In 2018 CEP, with colleagues from Milieu (Belgium), Cranfield University (UK), the German Federal Environment Agency and Vision Communication (Spain), were commissioned by the European Commission DG Environment to run the EU foresight system to detect emerging environmental issues. Named FORENV, the project aims to ‘improve the understanding of policy-makers of emerging environmental issues by supporting yearly cycles of the system set up by the Environment Knowledge Community (EKC) for the identification of emerging environmental issues and related risks and opportunities (FORENV)’.

FORENV runs on an annual cycle, and CEP’s role is to:

• Conduct a broad scanning to compile and characterise at least 100 weak signals of emerging issues for Europe’s environment.

• Organise and facilitate participatory sense-making workshops, which will help identify ten priority emerging environmental issues, including related risks and opportunities.

• Characterise the identified emerging issues and define related risks and opportunities for the environment, through recent scientific literature and expert involvement.

• Inform policy-makers, stakeholders and the public on the identified emerging issues through appropriate reporting and communications.

The first annual cycle (2018 – 2019) has now been successfully completed.  In its first year FORENV focussed on identifying emerging issues at the environment-social interface.  The 10 priority emerging issues identified include topics such as: digitalisation and mobile communications as drivers of change in citizen activism, consumption behaviours and the way that people connect with nature; the emergence and divergence of new consumption patterns; the implications of populism and protectionism for international cooperation on environmental issues; and the role cities might play as ‘living labs’ to test social and technological innovations.

A final report for the first annual cycle has been published, together with infographics for each of the 10 emerging issues to help communicate the FORENV process and outcomes to a wide audience.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).

CEP has contributed to newly published study on the EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention

PUBLICATION OF A REPORT ON THE STUDY ON EU IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AARHUS CONVENTION IN THE AREA OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS UNDER FRAMEWORK CONTRACT ENV E.4/FRA/2016/0003.

CEP was part of a team led by Milieu Ltd who carried out this project for DG Environment.  The report provides an evaluation of the performance of the current system of EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters, and a detailed assessment of possible options, to enable the Commission to decide how best to go forward in order to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention by the EU.  The study is part of the Roadmap published by the Commission in May 2018 on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters.  Dr Clare Twigger-Ross from CEP provided expert input into the assessment of social impacts of the current situation as well as future options.

The report is available here.

For more information please contact Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director).

Our Bright Future Programme mid-term evaluation report published

Our Bright Future Programme mid-term evaluation report published

CEP, with partners ERS, are undertaking the evaluation+ of the Our Bright Future Programme, which aims to empower young people to lead progressive change in their communities and local environment, through a portfolio of 31 projects across the UK, each with a duration of three to five years++.

As part of this evaluation the mid-term report has now been published.  The report presents and evaluates evidence on what has been achieved since the beginning of the programme while promoting learning and supporting the ongoing delivery of the programme.  The report is structured around four programme themes: outcomes for young people; outcomes for the environment and communities; outcomes for policy and practice; and, outcomes of the youth led and partnership approach.

Selected key findings include:

• The programme has directly engaged 85,788 young people, which already far exceeds the programme’s overall target of 60,000 young people participating in Our Bright Future activities

• Young people have gained a range of knowledge and new skills both specific to environmental topics, and more general soft and transferable skills

• Projects have improved participants’ self-confidence, wellbeing and mental health

• The Our Bright Future programme is supporting a wide range of terrestrial and marine habitats, through a variety of conservation tasks

• A survey of 450 young people involved in the programme found that projects have increased participants’ awareness of environmental issues and improved their attitudes towards spending time in the natural environment

Owen White is CEP’s lead for this project, please contact him for more information.

+The evaluation aims to:

• Test whether the Our Bright Future Programme has achieved its long term ambitions

• Provide better evidence on how young people can improve their local environment

• Test and evidence whether a partnership way of working that invests in human, social and natural capital, is an effective means by which to deliver greater impact

• Identify good practice and ongoing improvements

++The Programme is supported by £33 million of funding from the Big Lottery Fund, and is managed by a consortium of eight organisations led by The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.

CEP has contributed to new EEA report on Sustainability Transitions

NEW REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS: POLICY AND PRACTICE PUBLISHED BY THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

The European Environment Agency has published a report developed under the CEP-led framework service contract which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.  The report on Sustainability transitions: policy and practice, has been developed through three projects delivered under the framework service contract, which have brought together research on the implications of sustainability transitions and transformations for European policy and governance. 

The report development was led by the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, with input from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Fraunhofer ISI and the German Environment Agency.  CEP has contributed to the report by coordinating the characterisation of three key ‘socio-technical’ systems (food, energy and mobility).  CEP also reviewed the report for quality purposes, overall coherence, and to ensure accessibility for the target audience.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager.

CEP co-authors on EU SEA Directive report

CEP co-authors of a recent European Commission ‘REFIT’ study on the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive 2001/42/EU

The European Commission has recently published a report on the findings of a study to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value of the SEA Directive. CEP was a partner in the evaluation (with Milieu Ltd) and led the development of report chapters on effectiveness and relevance as well as contributing to the rest of the report [1].

The ‘REFIT’ [2] report (published in June 2019) summarises the current implementation of the SEA Directive in EU countries and the outcomes from the analysis for each of the evaluation criteria. It also incorporates the outcomes of a stakeholder workshop to discuss the research findings.

The study found that the SEA Directive brings considerable benefits to the EU, contributing to wider goals on sustainable development and environmental protection through integration of environmental concerns into the appropriate plans and programmes. The study also identified some concerns around scope and efficiency, and a number of priority issues that should be considered for further action, including: the clarification of the scope of application of the Directive, a more strategic approach to scoping and the dissemination of good practices.

The report is available here.

For further information contact Dr Bill Sheate (Technical Director), Spela Kolaric (Senior Consultant) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant).

[1] The authors of the report were: Jennifer McGuinn, Lise Oulès, Paola Banfi, Alicia McNeill, Sarah O’Brien, Zuzana Lukakova (Milieu); William Sheate, Spela Kolaric, Rolands Sadauskis (Collingwood Environmental Planning).

[2] A ‘REFIT’ study is an evaluation under the European Commission’s Regulatory Fitness Check and Performance programme, to ensure a Directive is ‘fit for purpose’ . It seeks to provide an evidence-based analysis as to whether EU actions are proportionate to their objectives and delivering as expected.

CEP-LED CONSORTIUM TO DELIVER NEW EEA PROJECT FOCUSING ON SDG INTERACTIONS

CEP-LED CONSORTIUM TO ASSIST IN EDITING AND PUBLISHING A REPORT ON INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)

A new project has been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.

The project will build on the outcomes of previous work to prepare a report based on an analysis of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interactions. CEP contributed to this previous work by preparing a working note on the implications of SDG interactions for EU policy. The new project, led by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), will prepare a report that will provide an accessible presentation of the approach to SDGs interactions analysis and of the results and implications of the previous analysis. CEP will provide overall quality control for this work.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Rolands Sadauskis, Framework Contract Coordinator.

CEP developing baseline social information for Marine Management Organisation

CEP is contributing to research led by ICF to provide baseline social information for the Marine Management Organisation

ICF, CEP and ABPmer were contracted by Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to undertake a study to support social baseline assessments for marine plans.

After an initial identification and prioritisation of social evidence needs, three research topics were agreed with MMO.   CEP is leading on two research topics: Seascape quality, value and links to sense of place; and Health and wellbeing benefits of coastal recreation and barriers to access.  Research on a third priority topic (Socio-economic deprivation in coastal communities) is being led by ICF.  CEP’s research involves literature review, focus groups, interviews and analysis.   For the Seascapes research, ABPmer developed a tailored-made online survey and map to gather the views of local residents about the coastal places that are special for them. 

The research topics will be published as separate reports later this year on the MMO’s website

For more information please contact CEP’s Paula Orr (Technical Director) or Sian Morse-Jones (Principal Consultant) for more information.

CEP at the XV International Congress of Environmental Psychology 2019

DR CLARE TWIGGER-ROSS (CEP) PRESENTING KEYNOTE PAPER AT THE XV CONGRESO DE PSICOLOGIA AMBIENTAL-PSICAMB 2019 IN TENERIFE.

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is giving a keynote talk on Tuesday 16th July at the XV Congreso de Psicologia Ambiental-PSCIAMB: Community, resources and sustainability: the challenge of territories. She will be presenting her paper Building resilience capacities of communities to flood risk: reflections on theory and practice in the UK. The paper draws on research that CEP and associates have carried out for Defra and the Environment Agency over the past decade.  

The conference is being held at the University of la Laguna, Tenerife from 16th – 19th July 2019.

For more information please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director).

Building resilience capacities of communities to flood risk: reflections on theory and practice in the UK

Summary:

Climate change will increase the frequency, severity and extent of flooding in the UK with the present 1.8 million people living in areas at significant flood risk predicted to rise to 2.6 million under a 2° scenario and to 3.3 million under a 4° scenario (CCRA, 2017). The health and social impacts of floods have been documented over a number of years (e.g. Walker et al, 2005; Tapsell and Tunstall, 2008) with recent robust studies on the effects on mental health (e.g. Public Health England, 2017;Miljevic et al, 2017) showing the impact to be quite considerable.   Given these negative social impacts it becomes even more important to understand how communities and individuals alongside local professionals (e.g. local authorities, emergency services) might be able to improve or develop greater community resilience. Dr Twigger-Ross together with her colleagues at Collingwood Environmental Planning has been working on projects for the UK government and its agencies since 2005 on aspects of flooding and this paper draws on that work within the framework of community resilience.   Community resilience is a way of thinking about resilience to flooding at a local and place based level, understanding that there will be multiple communities and social networks intersecting in a given flood risk area.  In this paper Cutter et al’s (2010) disaster resilience of place is drawn on to locate  community resilience which is defined as a “set of capacities that can be fostered through interventions and policies, which in turn help  build and enhance a community’s ability to respond, recover  from [and adapt] to disasters”(Cutter et al, 2010).   The capacities examined by Twigger-Ross et al, (2015) are institutional resilience capacities, social resilience capacities, community capital, infrastructure resilience capacities and economic resilience capacities and they will be elaborated on within this paper.  Importantly, in order to meet the challenges of climate change the type of resilience will need to focus on the proactive/transformative type of resilience rather than the reactive/defensive type of resilience.   A number of active interventions have been developed in the UK by to improve levels of resilience capacity, through government and charity funding, together with grassroots interventions emergent after a flood and the factors for their success or otherwise will be discussed in relation to the community resilience framework. Further, it is recognised that the concept of resilience is both complex and contested, not just the opposite of vulnerability and the paper will comment on that, specifically in the context of its use by UK government and its agencies.  Finally, the role and impact of “contract” research and the position of researchers within that will be examined through the paper.

CEP attending Our Bright Future Annual Seminar

CEP HELPING LEAD A SESSION ON FINDINGS FROM THE OUR BRIGHT FUTURE MID-TERM EVALUATION REPORT AT ANNUAL SEMINAR on 19 June 2019

CEP’s Owen White is attending this year’s annual Share Learn Improve seminar in Belfast of the Our Bright Future (OBF) programme as part of CEP’s role in the evaluation of the OBF programme.  The seminar brings together all of the youth and environmental projects to discuss and share experiences and good practice in management and delivery.

As part of this seminar, Owen will be contributing to an interactive working session to engage participating projects in the findings of the Mid-Term Programme Evaluation Report, and identify specific actions and next steps for projects and the OBF Programme team.

The evaluation team is led by ERS with CEP and is carrying out the evaluation of the programme between 2016 - 2021. The Programme Evaluation seeks to identify, analyse and assess:

• the collective impact of the portfolio of 31 projects;

• the added value of the Programme i.e. what value has been derived from a programme with the Share Learn Improve, Policy and Youth Function and from the development of an Our Bright Future network/movement;

• whether the Programme has achieved its long-term ambitions; and

• best practice and lessons learnt, and provide evidence and guidance to support Programme learning and development.

Please contact Owen White (Technical Director) for more information.

CEP running EEA workshop on urban sustainability

CEP DELIVERING WORKSHOP IN COPENHAGEN TO SUPPORT EEA’S ASSESSMENT OF URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

For the first time, the European Environment Agency (EEA) will be explicitly addressing urban sustainability in the European Environment State and Outlook Report for 2020 (SOER 2020). As part of CEP's current framework contract with the EEA on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions CEP, in partnership with LSE Cities, cChange and University of Utrecht, is undertaking a third contract to support urban sustainability assessments, building on previous contracts.

Specifically the project will deliver nexus analysis for urban sustainability assessments and  prepare a first draft of the 2020 Environmental Sustainability in Cities (ESIC) Report. Another important aim of this project is to develop an urban sustainability meta-analysis exercise of the drivers of urban sustainability transitions.

On Wednesday 26th June, CEP's Ric Eales and Rolands Sadauskis together with partners from LSE Cities are running a one-day workshop in Copenhagen involving experts form EEA and European Topic Centres to facilitate their input to the ongoing work.

For more information please contact Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant).

CEP at Flood & Coast 2019 conference

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (CEP) a panel member at the 2019 Flood and Coast conference.

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross will be presenting, on 18 June 2019, a short paper on community resilience to flooding at the 2019 Conference panel session Climate change - how do we overcome the physical, political & societal barriers to meet the challenge.  The other members of the panel are:  

• Andrew Eden, National lead - climate adaptation & resilience, Environment Agency

• Craig Jones, Director, Circular Ecology

• Janet Taylor, Chair, Lune Valley Flood Forum

• Andrew Russell, Committee for Climate Change

• Jonathan Farr, Policy, Water Aid

Convened by the Environment Agency, the Flood & Coast conference 2019 is a unique event that advances the debate about flood and coast erosion risk, resilience and response between government bodies and local authorities with business, major infrastructure and asset managers, as well as affected communities. 

For more information please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director).

CEP delivering EKN training

Incorporating natural capital and ecosystem services into environmental assessments: Exploring best practice

Two dates for this course in 2019:

• 26th June 2019, Leeds (Coth Hall Court, LS21 2HA).

• 27th November 2019, Central London (Cotton Centre, SE1 2QG)

This course, which is now in its third year, will equip you to inform clients or colleagues on the merits of including the ecosystem services and natural capital concepts in environmental assessment processes. There is now strong interest in what ecosystem services, natural capital and nature-based solutions mean for Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal.  The course is delivered by Dr Bill Sheate and Spela Kolaric of Collingwood Environmental Planning and organised by the Ecosystems Knowledge Network.

Find out more and book at: https://ecosystemsknowledge.net/events/training-environmental-assessment

CEP supporting the Study on EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention

CEP supporting the Study on EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters under Framework Contract ENV E.4/FRA/2016/0003.

CEP is part of a team led by Milieu Ltd who are carrying out this project. Based on an evaluation of the performance of the current system of EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters, and a detailed assessment of possible options, the study should enable the Commission to decide how best to go forward in order to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention by the EU.  The study is part of the Roadmap published by the Commission in May 2018 on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters.  

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross from CEP is providing expert input into the assessment of social impacts of the current situation as well as future options. The project started in October 2018 and is due to finish in May 2019.

Please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director) for more information.